Berlin tourism sees a slight uptick in 2017

Berlin, 27 February 2018 Berlin Tourism closed 2017 with a positive result, despite the insolvency of Air Berlin.

The number of guests staying in Berlin hotels climbed by 1.8% to 12.96 million in 2017, with the number of nights stayed up slightly by 0.3% to 31.15 million. German guests still account for the largest proportion of overnight stays (55.1%), posting 1.6% growth.

While 5.1 million international guests travelled to Berlin in 2017, a 1.2% jump, the number of nights they stayed in Berlin hotels fell by 1.4% to 13.98 million. Large numbers of the city's international guests came from Great Britain, the USA, and Spain. Countries posting strong growth in visits to Berlin were Russia (+16.6%), Brazil (+10.2%), and the USA (+7.5%).

"Berlin remains a top tourist destination! With the new tourism concept, Berlin is now also becoming a pioneer for sustainable tourism in Europe," says Ramona Pop, Senator for Economy, Energy, and Business. Tourism is one of the most important sectors in Berlin, bringing in annual revenues of more than €11.5 billion to the city and employing the full-time equivalent of 235,000 people. "Our success in the tourism industry is thanks to our creativity, welcoming culture and the hard work of the hotels and other partners in the tourism sector. The aim of the new concept is to use tourism marketing measures to enhance the quality of our visitors' experience whilst also improving the quality of life for Berliners."

"Last year saw about a quarter million more people travel to Berlin than the year before. This speaks for the attractiveness of the city ", says Burkhard Kieker,CEO of visitBerlin, "However, the insolvency of Air Berlin and the unsatisfactory situation concerning our airport have had a dampening effect. City tourism does not run all by itself. This applies to Berlin, too. That's why we need everyone to redouble their efforts."

More than €1 billion net value created from convention industry

A quarter of all overnight stays in Berlin hotels, i.e. 7.9 million in 2017 (+2.6%) are by visitors to conferences, trade fairs, and conventions. 2017 saw some 11.7 million people (+1% over 2016) attend 140,200 events (+2%) in Berlin.

For the first time, the conference and congress market generated a net added value of more than one billion euros. The total turnover of the conference and congress industry amounts to €2.51 billion. Participants staying overnight spent considerably more money in the city than in the previous year (€246; 2016: €237). The events market in Berlin provides 43,200 full-time jobs. This is 1,700 more jobs than in the previous year (2016: 41,500).